


The Empty Night Sky

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-07-26
Packaged: 2020-07-20 10:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19990672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "Something has been bothering me about the scene where Jamie sees the Guardians a second time. I mean, they’d stop being something to believe in and more of a fact-like the wind.Prompt: When Jamie goes out and sees that the Guardians are real, they lose their last believer and Pitch wins.Make it hurt."I didn’t really feel like following this prompt mostly because if the consequences were that dire for Jamie seeing the Guardians at that point (i.e. seeing means not believing) it seems important enough to be mentioned. So I thought, what if it was? What if Jack knew Jamie couldn’t be allowed to see the Guardians again.I think I still succeeded in making it hurt.





	The Empty Night Sky

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 6/15/2016.

These were the things Jamie knew were real: the egg drawn in frost on his window, the rabbit made of ice that bounded through the air of his room, the snow that fell when it shattered, and…and Jack. Jack Frost, who had smiled, and laughed, and jumped for joy when Jamie had turned around and seen him. Jack Frost, who had enthusiastically told him that Santa was real, the Easter Bunny was real, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman, too.  
  
He knew he heard a crash on the street outside, a clatter of hooves and the jangling of harnesses adorned with jingle bells.  
  
He remembered rushing to the door of his room, and out of the corner of his eye seeing Jack’s face go tense with shock and worry, and the staff moving, and the flash of light. He remembered the white, glittering ice that covered the doorknob and the latch and the hinges and spread around the edges of the door.  
  
“Jamie, I—do you trust me? Do you believe what I said about the others?”  
  
“Yes! Yes, I do! What’s going on? Do we need to help them? My friends—”  
  
“I know, I know,” said Jack. “And that’s why I need you to stay here.”  
  
And Jack had retreated out his window, freezing it shut after he left, covering it with more ice, and no matter what Jamie did, he couldn’t get it open again, not in time, anyway. He thought he could hear Jack talking with some other people—talking with Santa? The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy? He couldn’t see.  
  
But they had to be there, didn’t they? A couple of nights ago—that couldn’t have been a dream, he didn’t believe it was a dream at all, not after what Jack had said. He’d never believe it was a dream. Never, never!  
  
And he never did.  
  
But he never saw any of them again, afterwards, not even Jack. He knew they had to be there, because his friends started laughing again, and having good dreams, and the teeth under their pillows were exchanged for coins, and on Christmas there were gifts that were clearly extraordinary to the eyes of any child. But why didn’t they come see him again? He was happy for the signs of them, but it hurt, because his friends had seen them, his friends had seen Jack, but Jamie, Jamie just had to see the things that anyone could see and know—no, believe—that they were out there.  
  
There was a time when he was angry with them, when he knew he was too old to see them anyway, but he never doubted. He thought he couldn’t, and then he realized he didn’t doubt because he didn’t want to. He was choosing to believe, when others had seen much more…  
  
And then he understood what had happened, from what Jack had said and what his friends had said, years ago. They needed someone who believed, not someone who knew. And Jamie had been the last, then.  
  
In a way, it was an honor.  
  
But only in a way.  
  
“You can’t need me anymore,” he whispered to the night sky. “I’m too old, far too old. Can’t I see you again, now?”  
  
The night sky remained empty save for the still stars. But Jamie still believed that someday it might not. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> mira-eyeteeth said: Oh no it hurts. :C I am reminded of that discworld quote: “Seeing isn’t believing; it’s where belief ends, because it isn’t needed anymore.”


End file.
